RSL's Plata earns Player of the Week honor

New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Real Salt Lake forward Joao Plata was named the Player of the Week on Monday for Week 9 of the 2014 Major League Soccer season.

With his club trailing, 2-0, against the Chicago Fire on Saturday and less than 20 minutes to play, Plata led a thrilling comeback. He scored in the 72nd minute to make it a 2-1 game.

After Alvaro Saborio tied the game in the 90th minute, the diminutive Ecuadorian struck again in the third minute of stoppage time to hand Salt Lake a 3-2 victory and keep its unbeaten record intact.

The double gives Plata a total of five on the season, the highest single- season total in his four-year MLS career.

The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from the North America Soccer Reporters (NASR). The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.